32. Reunions and Regrets - Part Four
Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Reunions and Regrets - Part Four
Monster ran.
The ground flowed past under her hooves in a long stream, the warm presence of mom fading behind her as the spark of emotion grew ahead. She was angry, but able to cope with it; frightened, but able to overcome it; anxious, but willing to face him. The long iron rails of the train stretched to her side, a cool presence of lesser spells put on the tracks and ties that sang to the earth spirits beneath her hooves and the fire spirits patiently waiting for her word to once again drive the massive machine.
The stopped train loomed up ahead, and she slowed her headlong gallop to a trot, ignoring the puzzled looks from most of the train passengers as she hopped up onto the last car and began picking her way through the crowd. There were several changelings in the uncomfortable mass of ponies, and little flecks of purple magic grasped each one gently by an ear as she walked past them, giving her a rather uncomfortable group as she approached the last changeling in the front car.
“Tallgrass.” He was wearing his earth pony disguise, but there was no disguising him from the earth spirits who happily bubbled and whispered under his hooves. There was a certain resignation to his expression as he turned away from her and looked out the window, remaining silent to her until she added, “Dad.”
“I’m not your father,” he groused, turning back to her and regarding the small group of disguised changelings nearby. “But if I were, I’d be most upset at your behavior.”
“Spank me then.” There was no humor in her flat tone, although the littlest one of the changelings did give a brief snort of disbelief.
“You’re better off without me. I’m going to Zebrica, you see. There’s much knowledge ahead that needs placed within my head.” Tallgrass turned back to look out the window and rested his forehead against the glass. “So turn off what you did to the train. It is wrong the other passengers to detain.”
“Not until we talk. I’ll talk. You listen.” Monster turned to the rest of the changelings. “You all need to listen. I’m afraid of y-you. I’m guilty of k-killing so many of you. But I need to face my fear. If you all leave, I won’t face it. I’ll hide it. I’ll never face it. Never is a long time.” The wings on her back fluttered. “Longer now. I won’t force you to return. That would be wrong. But I’ll ask you to return. Please. That’s all I wanted to say.”
Tallgrass continued looking out the window for a while before turning back to her and stroking a hoof across her cheek. “I’m so proud of you, our little Flower. You have truly learned the limits of your power. Know that my fate lies beyond these tracks. I must go now, but I shall come back.”
“I understand. Don’t like it. But I understand.” Monster blinked away a tear, then launched herself into a crushing hug. “Be careful, dad.”
He snuffled and wiped his nose on the back of a foreleg. “You too, daughter. Watch over my mate, until I have returned. Perhaps by then, wisdom I will have learned.”
They separated in a somewhat damp fashion. The small purple alicorn and several larger ponies who left the train stood by the road while puffs of steam once again began to ascend out of the engine. They remained in a small circle around their purple core until the train had vanished into the distance, each of them unwilling to get out of touching range of the little alicorn who trembled in their midst.
“I’m afraid to go back.” Monster’s voice was very quiet, but she pulled herself to her hooves and began to plod back down the road towards Ponyville.
“Gee, we never would have guessed,” quipped Peep Sprout, trotting to her side. “I mean, you’re almost glowing with the scary stuff.”
Monster lowered her head and hip-checked the little changeling, snorting a little as he responded to the friendly assault by returning to her side and hip-checking her with such vigor that they almost both fell into the ditch at the side of the road. “Need time, Peep,” she muttered. “They get close and my brain gets stuffed with memories.”
The was a poof of green magic and ‘Featherweight’ fluttered along beside her as they walked. “I remember hearing the girls talk about how they met you. Maybe if I took a bunch of pictures of them, you could look at them one at a time. Or—” There was a green flash, and a very small version of Shining Armor trotted by her side, with a squeak to Peep’s voice as he tried to talk low like an adult. “Hello my darling sister who I have not seen in a bunch of years. Give me a kiss and we can talk about old ti—”
There was a synchronized ‘Thwap!’ as both Monster and Peep’s mother flicked out a wingtip to hit the little ‘Shining Armor’ in the back of the head. His changeling magic flared again, but this time a tan earth pony colt with a climbing beanstalk for a cutie mark trotted at her side while wearing a huge grin. “Worth it!”
They trotted for a while before Monster ventured, “Do you think you can do Dad?”
“I’ll try.” Peep huffed and puffed while they trotted, eventually vanishing in a blinding green flash and reappearing in a form that made Monster thwap him upside his striped head again with one wingtip.
“My other Dad, goofy. You’ve been hanging around Featherweight again.”
“Oh! He’s easy,” exclaimed the little squiggly-striped ‘zebra.’ Green magic flared again and a small version of Night Light trotted by her side.
His face was more lined than she remembered from her little flashes of recollection, but his golden eyes were just as soft and warm. The sight made her heart roll around in her chest and slowed her hoofbeats to a halt. After looking at Peep’s disguise for what seemed like hours, she reached out one hoof and gently touched him on the nose.
“That’s enough. Small steps.” She did not move until Peep switched back to his earth pony disguise, although she thought there were still sparkles of that same dark blue in his mane as well as that familiar twinkle in his eyes. She swallowed a lump and looked in the direction of Ponyville. “It’s too big. I can’t step that far.”
Peep Sprout’s mother came up to one side and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. Her voice seemed soft and distant as she said, “We understand, Twilight. You’ve come so far today, and so have your parents, but if this is too much for you now, they’ll understand too.”
“I know.” Monster flopped down in the dusty road. “I wish there was something I could do for them.”
Peep Sprout flopped down in the dust right next to her. “Yeah, they want to see you so bad I can taste it from here.”
Monster rolled over and looked at Peep, blinking a bit of dust out of her eye. “Maybe something Trixie told me…”
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
The small depressed group gathered in the library all looked up as Princess Cadence jumped to her hooves, hugged what appeared to be a section of empty air, and trotted out the door. “Come on, everypony. We need to hurry up and get to the train station. Twilight has something she needs to say to all of us. Hurry!”
Two little ponies with fresh diapers galloped after her, followed by the rest of her extended family and fellow Princess as they trotted down the road, through the small town, and stopped at the northern edge of the train station.
“Here,” she declared. “Everypony sit down right here. Except for you.” Princess Cadence walked over to Zecora and blinked a few times before sitting a pink hoof on top of her dark one. “I never got the opportunity to properly thank you. Your advice saved an entire race from extinction. You will always be special to the changelings, and if there is ever anything you need, anything at all, it’s yours.”
Zecora looked back into Princess Cadence’s eyes, blinking away her own tears. She reached up with one hoof and touched the princess on the cheek, bringing the hoof down gently across her neck and across her shoulder, pausing at her swollen belly, and then continuing down one pink leg until it was resting on the dusty ground again.
“All that I wished for until this day began was my Flower to be as safe as she can,
but now I find another need to keep, for without his touch, my will is weak.
Can your changeling kind protect and defend, my lover and my dearest friend?
For as he goes to seek his fate, with all my heart, I love my mate.”
“I’ll try. I can’t promise, but I’ll watch out for him as much as we can.” Princess Cadence swept Zecora up in a damp hug. “He’s special to us both, you know.” Zecora hugged back, her eyes closed to prevent the tears inside from spilling down across both of their chests.
“It is indeed a secret unsaid, that his heart and yours are tied by threads,
All that we ask when he has returned, is that some privacy we both have earned.
Though your stallion’s strong in heart and head, you should share much less of your mind in be—”
One delicate pink hoof flashed to cover Zecora’s mouth and Cadence blushed brightly, as did several other of the townsponies in the general vicinity. “I’ll try,” she hissed quietly in Zecora’s ear, then after a moment, “You mean they all could hear?”
Zecora nodded, then after a moment, several ponies in the crowd blushed and nodded too.
“Every time?”
Zecora nodded again and whispered, “Do not be sad. It isn’t bad. Although at times it was awkward to rhyme.”
“Oh.”
This time a low giggle escaped from Zecora as she added, “Although at times your inspiration contributed considerably to our perspiration.”
“Don’t tell Shining,” Cadence whispered back. She took a moment to stand back from Zecora and draw the back of one hoof across her eyes before bracing her shoulders and nodding. “Nenda kwa amani, Imetabiriwa.”
Zecora lowered herself down to one knee and bowed. “Nenda kwa amania, Imetabiriwa na Anga.” She turned her back and trotted away, through the surrounding ponies and off in the direction of a tall tree at the other end of town.
“Now we wait,” declared Princess Cadence, sitting down in the middle of the thin dirt road that paralleled the train tracks regardless of the dust that immediately clung to her coat. “She’s come so far today, and so have all of you, but she can’t take this big of a step right now. We need to be patient.”
While they were waiting, Night Light leaned over to his son and whispered in one ear, “Shiny, is there something you want to tell your mother and myself?”
“No,” whispered Shining Armor. “Not yet.”
* * *
It was a small and dusty group of ponies walking down the dirt road, no more than a dozen or so all around one small purple alicorn who walked between them as if the weight of the world were on her shoulders. Twilight’s family all stood quietly and waited, each withholding various degrees of tears, except for the two little colts who had curled up in the warm sunshine and begun their nap.
The walking group of ponies stopped fairly close and the small purple alicorn stepped out of their shadows to continue the brief journey on her own. She was ragged and tattered, with the remains of a blotchy mane that had suffered the ravages of her friends with a pair of clippers and far too many attempts to ‘fix’ their initial attempt at a manestyling cutie mark. Only a few stubbly patches of mane remained, and her tail had been cropped and dyed down to a short bristle that stood out as stiff as a blue brush, although every remaining hair on her body was a soft natural shade of purple. She blinked as she walked, as if the dust of the road had gotten into her eyes, and her knees shook as she approached the waiting family, but she continued in her uncertain pace until she was just a few yards away from the attentive crowd. She stopped, looking back and forth at the bright and loving eyes of her family before swallowing once and opening her mouth to speak.
“I just wanted to say that I’m not—”
“Twiley!” Twilight Velvet launched herself forward in a crushing tackle, remarkably accurate for the quantity of tears streaming down her face. Both of her forelegs wrapped around the purple alicorn while she showered her long-lost daughter with kisses up and down her face and babbling in shock, joined quickly by her husband and son in an emotional embrace. Tears poured down like rain and every inch of exposed alicorn was subjected to hugging and adoration in one incoherent expression of pure joy and love that set the nearby disguised changelings into a mutual fit of sniffling and nose-blowing.
Behind them, the two Princesses exchanged a glance before Luna asked quietly, “That’s not Twilight Sparkle, is it?”
“No,” said Cadence with a sniff. “It’s Peep Sprout.”
The two princesses watched a little longer before Luna hazarded, “Do you think we should tell them?”
Cadence considered while wiping her eyes with a kerchief. “In a little while. They deserve at least a little Twiley for now. It may be months before she recovers enough to see us individually, but until then, this will have to do. I just hope Missus Velvet can let Peep go before they return home.”
“Air!” gasped Peep Sprout from the inside of his three-pony pileup.
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
Night had settled over Ponyville like an soft curtain, a gentle crushing of darkness lit by thousands of brilliant stars overhead. The soft noises of summer droned past closed doors and dark windows as insects played their evening tunes and nocturnal animals emerged onto the empty streets. In a hollow tree at the edge of the tiny town, a zebra of indeterminate age arranged the covers on her cold bed. For a long time, the small bed had slept two, one large, one very small and fragile, then as time passed, it became more one than two, until one night it suddenly became two again, both large and somewhat difficult to fit without a great deal of contact, which had not been considered a problem. Now there was only one again, and the zebra reached to extinguish the light when she felt something warm and small slip beneath the covers as before.
“Flower? Do you not know the lateness of the hour?” Her words were gruff, but the embrace she wrapped around her little daughter was as tender as could be, taking great effort not to bend any of the extra limbs Zecora was not as familiar with hugging.
“Organized the root cellar,” sniffed Monster. “Feel better now. Sleeping here tonight.” After a few more minutes of silent hugging, she got out of the bed and nudged her adoptive mother. “First, surprise. Then sleep.”
Monster slipped over to the door and paused, looking back at Zecora. “Not mad at me because of Tallgrass? I made him go away.” She sniffed and twisted one hoof into the wooden floor. “I felt how sad he was. But he still left, even after I called him Dad. I miss him. He’s a long way away, almost out of my reach.”
Her mother tisked gently as she slipped out of bed and over to her daughter. “Now, Flower, why should I be mad? My Tallgrass will return, and so will your dad. No matter the distance we are apart, I can still feel him in my heart. His purpose he saw through his inspiration, and to resist that destiny would cause great consternation. Now, what is this surprise of which you speak? Is there a young colt for whom you do seek?”
“Mom!” Monster spluttered, hunching her shoulders and scowling. “Colts are icky. Except this one. You’ll like him. Come on.”
The dark streets of Ponyville were not silent, but echoed with the quiet noises of the night as Zecora and Monster trotted in matching steps down the packed dirt roads, over the small bridge, and into the center of town. A faint sound rose up above the houses, the thin voice of a viola crying out in anguish and sorrow, and matched by the thrum of a string bass in counterpart. As Zecora and her daughter came to a halt in the thick, rich soil beside a small house, a third noise interjected into the melody. It was a little out of practice and stopped occasionally, making the whole musical composition come crashing to a halt at odd spots, but after a few mumbled words, the three instruments would begin again, raising their voices into the night. She could not recognize the music, but the emotions behind the piece sang of loss, of the sorrow for the dead and the agony of those left behind. It sang of love, of the eternal bond that could not be broken even by the Shadowlands, and despite the occasional flubbed note or missed key, Zecora could feel the tears welling up inside her as well as the players.
“Shining Armor,” whispered Monster, leaning against Zecora and trembling.
The notes changed, the low moan of the strings and mellow tones of the horn merging into a burst of joy, a cry of hope and thanksgiving that filled their hearts and ended with a soft blat of music and the very masculine blowing of a nose, to the giggles of the rest of the performers.
“Your brother is quite talented with his horn. Will you see him ‘ere the morn?”
“No, snuffled Monster. “This is as c-close as I can g-get before the m-memories get too strong. I j-just wanted to listen to him and r-remember. I h-have two mothers, and two f-fathers, but only one big brother.”
“Twi-lee!” A small happy voice from behind a cabbage preceded a tiny purple unicorn colt who popped his head up and grinned.
“Sister!” A second blue unicorn colt popped up from behind another cabbage plant.
Two older sets of eyes traversed from the mischievous little colts in the cabbage patch, up the side of the house to an open window, and then back to the front door.
With a heavy sigh, Zecora nuzzled the side of her daughter’s neck. “I never thought the legend was true, but a cabbage patch is where we found these two. I will return the roaming colts, if to home you wish to bolt.”
“Can we play a little while first?” whispered Monster as the notes of another song began to drift out of the house. “It will be a few weeks until they can come back.”
* * *
Late that night after their music session was over and Viola escorted her royal guests to the guest bedroom, Shining Armor peeked out of the nursery window and looked outside. The moonlit darkness showed nothing but Viola’s garden and the silvery street, motionless and silent as he closed the window and flipped the latch.
“Do you think Twily was listening?” he whispered to his wife, who was checking on each of his little brothers in their traveling cribs.
“Yes,” she whispered back, giving each of the sleeping little scamps a kiss on the head. “She was still terrified inside, but she loved hearing her big brother play his flugelhorn again. I think between leaving your family photo album with Trixie and giving her a few weeks to settle down between visits, she’ll be just fine.” Cadence added a soft kiss to the head for the much larger mischievous scamp in the room. “That’s from Twilight, in advance.”
He returned the kiss in less of a brotherly fashion. “I just have one question.” Shining Armor indicated the two sleeping colts. “Why are we coltsitting my little brothers tonight?”
Cadence giggled. “So your parents can have some uninterrupted personal time together when they’re at home in Canterlot tonight, silly. Or do I need to spell it out for you?” She traced one hoof up his sleeve and toyed with his Royal Guard jacket buttons.
“Yes, Your Highness. Just as soon as we get back to our room.” He eyed the little sleeping colts as they slipped out the nursery door together. “I just wish I knew why they smell like cabbages.”
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I'll admit... I'm just a little confused at this point, but then again, I'm not very clever, so... Yeah.
(Who is pregnant? Cadance, or Zecora? (or both?))
4890778
Cadance is pregnant (i think...?), i don't think Zecora is, but i could be wrong.
Great
4888774 Well, if true, I can accept that as a reasonable worry for Twilight, but then it just turns to thinking "Why the hell isn't Twilight at least trying to be receptive to Night Light's attempts at reconciliation?"
And you wonder how many of the other changelings wanted to take his place.
Still...*sigh* it's not what I really wanted, but at the same time I also understand it a little bit better. Still doesn't mean that I don't think Twi should really be trying more, but I...I guess I feel content enough.
I will not be happy if there is no true reconciliation, however. Not without good reason.
4890778 both, definitely both
HAHA, the changelings can tell when Cadence & Shiny are fooling around. Lol. At least Twilight's comfortable playing with the little brothers.
Nice chapter, though I wish Twilight had been able to get up the guts to at least talk to her family more. Poor Peep Sprout, but he's probably so stuffed full of love that he won't need to eat for a month.
4891301 Agreed
4890778
Actually, I think it might be both.
---
Loved this. It was very sweet and sad.
Huh, so Tallgrass isn't just going away for Twilight's sake, he also has something else in the works. Something zebray, something shamany, perhaps?
Hahahhahaha! Poor Shining, but eh, only a little. There has to be some downside to being married to a magical love princess.
Great conversation between Cadance and Zecora, and between Twilight and Peep earlier in the chapter. Incidentally, I'm wondering if the CMC++ have gained a new member. Having a ready made shape-shifter on hand can only be a plus for cutie mark crusades.
Shining Armor the flugelhorn player, I love it.
4890778 4891301 4890782 Cadence is about 8-9 months pregnant at this point in the story. Hooved ungulates really don't show pregnant very well, they just get rounder. Zecora is... Zecora.
4891162 She's reached reconciliation with her little brothers. And both Trixie and Spike, who she almost killed during her entrance exam. And Celestia, who she thought was trying to kill her for the last decade. And Sergeant Chives, who was part of the team hunting her. And Luna, who was actively trying to kill her, twist her mind into another Nightmare, and kill her friends. Pretty good for just a few months (June 22-Late August/Early September. Next major chapter is at Summer Wrap Up, around Sept 22 (Equinox))
4891571 They may even have to cocoon him at the hospital for a week or two.
4892393 The spirits talk to the Wise Ones, but sometimes they just say "Go there. It is needed."
Beautifully done. Twilight's definitely making progress, but it's a long journey, and she's still a little filly. There will be many stops along the road, maybe even the occasional setback, but she'll get there in time.
I'm sure when we see Tallgrass again, it will be awesome.
Looking forward to more. Especially if Scootaloo can fly.
Poor Luna. Maybe the third time will be the charm when she tries to pour her heart out to Twilight.
4892599 Okay, and thanks for telling me.
4892662 So... Will Velvet and Night Light be frustrated?
4894636
She might have better luck in dreamland, at least there she can control things a little and-
Dangit, she woke up on Luna again.
Mixed feelings about Tallgrass leaving.
A) You're not writing him out of the story, so…
B) He'll likely be gone for a while, anyway, so unless we see what is up with him, he might be written out of the story for a while
4907423
sugar will give you cirrhosis of the liver, turn your blood into literal syrup as your sugar regulator gland is overwhelmed, causing your limbs to die from lack of circulation. more people have died (horribly) of sugar intake than any who might have had health complications as a result of the methanol in aspartame. and that's only aspartame. Neither sucralose, glycyrrhizin, saccharine, nor stevia have any methanol in their metabolism. It's true artificial sweeteners are not the healthiest thing in the world, and might even be pretty bad for you, but nothing is as deadly or destructive to our health and culture than refined sugar.
It would be like arguing that some food coloring is bad for you, therefore drinking whiskey is safe. Distilled alcohol and refined sugar are about equally bad for you. Some of the worst stuff you can put in your body.
now excuse me I hear some sugar cookies w/ my name on them
4915786
Like just about everything moderation is a good thing. I can't speak for artificial sweeteners, but at least your body has a feedback mechanism for sugar that makes you want to stop, unlike corn syrup. You'd probably throw up long before you ate too much sugar all at once. For most people I'd bet that eating sugar is not really an issue unless they set themselves up for type II diabetes. Ultimately, though, it's probably not the sugar intake, but it's combination with the habits of modern society and other dietary factors
On the other hand, pouring large quantities of pure alcohol into your body is just foolish and stupid.
4930203
Corn syrup is healthwise exactly the same as any other sugar. They generally use a 50/50 glucose to fructose ratio, which is identical to table sugar. As for the body's feedback mechanism, unfortunately it wasn't designed for refined sugar. It will make you sick if you eat a lot of sugar, but only after you've eaten far, far too much of it. It never triggers the satiation instinct; you just start getting sick. You do have a point in that artificial sweeteners don't make you less hungry, though they can accompany foods that do. But sugar isn't something we're built to consume in large quantities; we can't trust our bodies to know when to stop. That's why soda is basically the worst thing you could possibly put in your body ever.
Otherwise, I pretty much agree.
MORE
5050819 ... Well, that would be because it's knd of my picture... I had this picture commissioned, so I can kinda do whatever the heck I want with it, short of make money off it.
(And sorry that this comment isn't about the story, Georg.)
Ugh. The tourist invasion is over. And they even got to molest the dummy of the tourist attraction.
Back to regular life. Hopefully the tourists will not try to return anytime soon.
4892662
Being picky but doesn't ungulate mean hoofed mammal so hoofed ungulate just repeats itself
4890778
Cadance is, Zecora I do not know.
Wait..What
6470282 Relax. He just needed to have his stomach pumped. Twilight Sparkle's family had a lot of pent up love. He's lucky. He could have blown up like a balloon.
Wait, the week of fire wasn't from Cadance being crowned, but her and Shining having funtimes?
Interesting way to celebrate Luna and Twilights return.
So is monster staying purple I mean I thought it was odd you had her coat change in the first place but to change it back permanently it would just be counter productive then.
1. Beautiful chapter, but will Twilight ever see her blood family again? It's great that she was able to listen to Shining without being scared.
2. So, Twilight is familiar with spanking and accepts it as a consequence for bad behavior. Has Zecora ever taken her little Flower across her knee? How does one spank an emotionally imbalanced unicorn with the power to rip up entire forests anyway?
3. I'm very curious about Tallgrass's purpose. Hope to see him again soon.
6470282
Changeling... all that love, you do the maths.
Twilight's family likes horns.
8298751
Probably read it in a book.